Dis/ableist Criminology: applying disability theory within a criminological context

Macdonald, Stephen J.; Peacock, Donna

Abstract

This chapter is a call for the discipline of criminology to begin to re-engage with the marginalised voices of disabled people who have been excluded, pathologised and silenced within this field of study. By tracing the parallel developments of crime and disability theory, it becomes clear that there were several points at which the disciplines could and should have intersected. Yet they failed to do so, resulting in a failure to comprehensively understand the lives and perspectives of disabled people who are victims, perpetrators, or who otherwise encounter criminal justice organisations. This chapter argues that in order to fully understand the nexus of crime/victimisation and disability, the discipline of criminology must develop and incorporate dis/ableist spaces and approaches whereby individual, cultural and structural ableism and disablism can be examined, challenged and critiqued.

Citation

Macdonald, S. J., & Peacock, D. (2024). Dis/ableist Criminology: applying disability theory within a criminological context. In K. J. Stockdale, & M. Addison (Eds.), Marginalised Voices in Criminology. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003260967-3

• Online Publication Date: Mar 11, 2024
• Publication Date: Mar 11, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 14, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 12, 2025
• Publisher: Routledge
• Series Title: Law, Social Sciences
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Book Title: Marginalised Voices in Criminology
• Chapter Number: 2
• ISBN: 9781032198095
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003260967-3
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1871409
• Contract Date: Oct 12, 2023